Game Center, which launched in 2010, hoped to become the Xbox Live of mobile gaming. It shares a lot of the same features, though Avatars, or visual representations of users, have not made their way into the picture. However, a pair of patent applications suggests this could soon be changing.
The patents seek to protect a process for editing an avatar from, based on the patent drawings, what appears to be an iPhone or iPod touch. Users appear to be able to build their Game Center personas from scratch on a blank canvas using sets of features prebuilt into the environment.
It seems as if Apple plans to implement this alongside an API as well to allow developers to utilize the Avatars inside of their titles, much like the Wii does with their Miis as well as showing up alongside your Game Center profile.
Avatars, while not critical to actual game play usually, seem to have sparked a lot of interset among older gamers, especially on the Wii. The ability to model your on screen persona after yourself or family members is an alluring one.
Source: Apple Insider
